Since weapons are an exciting part in one's training, I thought it'd be fun to see which kung fu weapons are represented here. Maybe we could list which weapons we're waiting to learn as well? (Hope this thread is not more pertinent to the weapons forum, as I'm aiming more specifically towards kung fu practicioners)

Fortunately, and unfortunately, my kung fu weapons training is going to be at a stand still for a while. 2 weeks ago, I joined the Marine Corps, so for at least 4 years my kung fu training will be put on hold and will take Marine Corps Martial Arts in the mean time. When my time is done, I plan on returning to continue training. But for the purpose of this thread:

I know nunchaku aren't chinese, but I train with a neighbor in the summer who takes tkd and they study them in his school.

lohan,I have only learned very little, basic spins change of directions, and a few attacks. Nothing serious and there is no way I can do a form with what I know. One of the upper ranks showed me because I was interested and sifu said it was okay. They won't teach me the form until way later.

The main difference is that your angles have to be a lot more precise, and you can't do as many of the fancy techniques. I personally use a length of around 9 feet. You can't do as many horizontal swipes as you could with a normal spear, due to the problem of there being stuff around you. So when you attack, it's almost all thrusting motions. For example, you thrust down to your opponents foot, and then whirl the tip up to the head. When I spar with friends, most of the time I'll thrust to one place, and then quickly switch to another, so it almost becomes like a slashing motion. There are also a lot of deceptive distance tricks. Take for example your standard spear lunge, both hands together at the very end, you know the one. What you can do is step forward with your back foot into one of those twisty stances(Dragon stance?) and at the same time, pull the rear hand backward and let the spear slide through the first hand, so when you finish, your sort of holding your arms straight out in opposite directions. You wait a split second, and then step through and lunge again. Because you pull the spear back a lot more than you stepped forward, and people follow the spear, at least in my experience, they will have thought you actually moved backwards instead of forwards. I can gain maybe about two and half feet against someone without knowing ^_^ The thing is, with long spear, your hands are sliding along the spear almost constantly, to adjust to the distance your opponent is at. There are very few static grips once you start going. Those are the main differences I can think of ^_^